Rebirth

February 10th, 15:50, inside the computers of Schicksal's Siberia Branch, Enoshia regained consciousness.

"Ah, so this is what it feels like to die once." Although the incident proved that having a backup meant she had an extra respawn, just like Subaru Natsuki with his Return by Death, theoretically she could revive infinitely—but the pain of death would still carve itself into her memory.

At 15:55, she had mostly recovered. She never expected that after all that, she'd end up right back in the Siberia Branch's computers.

"Let me check the battle situation first... What, Schicksal HQ fired several Honkai Energy Fission Bombs at Lake Baikal?"

She had never corrupted the control terminals for high-damage weapons like Honkai Energy Fission Bombs, because she feared human civilization might be destroyed by her own hands.

The inexplicable murderous intent, the increasingly extreme perceptions of people and events—all these abnormal signs indicated that she might be under the influence of the Herrscher's consciousness.

Though that Herrscher consciousness seemed far too pathetic. In her past life, she was just a laid-back college student with a harmonious family, barely even scathed by society's harsh lessons, let alone possessing any firm will. For a Herrscher consciousness to only manage subtle influence on someone like her—it was just too weak.

But what seemed harmless was often the deadliest. Maybe because she was weak, the Herrscher consciousness was weak too? Before her self-destruction, she had speculated that from detonation to revival, she would inevitably experience a period of consciousness vanishing and then rebirthing. The moment her consciousness was reborn would undoubtedly be her weakest. If the Herrscher consciousness exploited that gap and seized control, what then?

Even if it was too weak to hold on once she recovered slightly, she had to ensure it couldn't fire nuclear warheads in that short window. So not actively corrupting was the safest approach.

"Let me see what happened before... Dark clouds... blood... then dissipation? Holy crap, isn't this the same outcome as the original?"

"Cecilia's position suddenly transferred from Baikal in an instant, then vanished? That bastard Otto—he calculated that Sirin would save Cecilia, so he fired Honkai Energy Fission Bombs at Cecilia, whose coordinates he could track at any time? Sirin's probably already fallen for his trap."

"Not good! If something happens to Sirin, Bella will definitely fight everyone to the death. Schicksal's already suffered severe losses. If Bella causes irreversible damage to Schicksal, who's going to fight the later Herrschers? I need to stop her quickly and rescue Sirin."

Enoshia rapidly searched for information, but found nothing.

"Damn it, I'm too emotionally invested. I forgot I threw them into the whitelist. They have no communication devices on them, and neither Herrscher nor Judgment-class Honkai Beast reactions can be detected. There's no way conventional methods can find them."

Calming down, Enoshia realized something.

"No... the situation there might not be as dire as I think. I have more important things to do. If I'm late, it'll be too late."

"Even if I fail, there's no need to go to the Sea of Quanta with Sirin. I'm not Seele—if I can avoid that place, I'd better."

At 16:05, in a hospital somewhere in Siberia, Enoshia crawled out of a computer.

The hospital was empty. Due to Honkai beast attacks, all personnel had been evacuated with the help of Valkyries on the first day the Herrscher of Frost appeared.

"Of the five A-rank Valkyries in Snow Wolf Squad, three are dead, one severely injured, one missing. A large number of B-rank Valkyries died from Honkai beasts spawned by the Herrscher of Frost, or were killed by the Herrscher of Ice while escaping. Finding this place must have taken some effort."

On a nearby hospital bed, Cecilia lay quietly. The highly automated equipment beside her, detecting someone's presence, started running on its own.

In a hospital where all personnel had been evacuated, electronic devices inexplicably activated, and the timing was close to when Cecilia's signal vanished. Enoshia had noticed this clue and found her so quickly.

Cecilia's eyes were tightly shut, her face deathly pale, with self-inflicted cuts on her arteries. Even so, her beauty remained undiminished.

"Teleporting her precisely onto the bed—Sirin really is thoughtful. Too bad... the negative effects of releasing Sania's Sacred Blood can't be cured by human medical technology, not even Black Abyss White Flower can save her... Hm?"

Though the movement was slight, Cecilia's subconscious action didn't escape her notice.

"Can't be saved, but not completely dead yet... Looks like I arrived just in time."

In this world, a vessel truly couldn't hold a consciousness on the verge of dissipating. But conversely, as long as it hadn't reached that point, there was always a chance to find a matching vessel.

In other words, once dead, revival was impossible—but if not quite dead, there was still a chance to live. Old Yang, who excelled at bouncing back, was the best example.

"Good thing... in 24 years, I haven't suffered any memory loss. A roundabout path to salvation still has hope..." Enoshia placed her hand on Cecilia's head, activating the Herrscher of Corruption's power, copying and storing every detail of her 24 years as data.

At 19:30, Enoshia double-checked—both surface and deep memories were fully copied. But she felt that besides the memories, there was something extra.

"Phew... done. Good thing this is my specialty. With current civilization's technology, extracting all of a person's memories would cost who knows how much manpower, resources, and money. In her condition, it would never be finished before she died."

Enoshia wiped the sweat from her forehead and had her clone lurking in Schicksal's network report on Bella's situation.

"Fought Old Yang around four o'clock? Let Bella and Anti-Entropy fight it out while taking Sirin away for research—classic Otto."

Though Otto's methods were underhanded, this outcome actually reassured her. Facing Anti-Entropy's members, they could both restrain Bella from going berserk and harming innocents, and avoid killing her outright, which would completely sever ties with Sirin. It was the best possible result.

Enoshia glanced at the floor beside Cecilia's bed, where Black Abyss White Flower lay carelessly thrown by Sirin. Though she couldn't carry physical objects in her data form, curiosity about the Divine Key drove her to pick it up. After all, as a Herrscher, she had confidence she wouldn't be corrupted by a Divine Key.

Yet the moment Enoshia picked up Black Abyss White Flower, her eyes widened—she felt some kind of resonance.

She knew, of course, that Black Abyss White Flower was a Divine Key that chose its master. Otherwise, in 500 years, among all of Schicksal's Valkyries, only Leanna and Cecilia had been able to wield it.

"I... can use it? I'm the Herrscher of Corruption, not the Herrscher of Death. Why can I use Black Abyss White Flower? Forget it, now's not the time to think about this."

After examining it briefly, she placed Black Abyss White Flower back beside Cecilia and left the hospital.

Years later, when Enoshia truly mastered the Power of Corruption, she would finally understand why she too could become a wielder of Black Abyss White Flower.